Flin Flon IV 1969

Frank Stella made Flin Flon IV, a big square canvas, with house paint. You can tell that the painting was made by hand, but also that there's something mechanical about it. The colors are held rigidly within the hard-edged shapes, but not really, there's a softness there too, like the paint was put on wet. The painting is super flat, but you see the way the colors glow against each other? It makes the painting feel like it's breathing. There's something so satisfying about the way the colors meet, like in that grey section at the top right. The way the ochre section tucks into the grey is great. It looks like an accident, but it's so deliberate. I think of Ellsworth Kelly, another hard-edge painter with a sense of humor, when I see Stella. Stella shows us that art is about more than just making something look pretty. It's about thinking, feeling, and seeing the world in a new way.